EPA’s Methylene Chloride Rule Vacated, Leaving OSHA Rules as Primary Safeguard
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the EPA’s 2024 methylene chloride risk management rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act, meaning the chemical’s manufacturing prohibitions, restrictions and Workplace Chemical Protection Program are no longer in effect. The decision leaves existing OSHA requirements as the primary workplace safeguard for the estimated tens of thousands of workers handling the widely used industrial solvent.
- A central finding was that the EPA acted unlawfully by assuming workers weren’t using personal protective equipment when calculating unreasonable risk, despite the agency’s own 2020 evaluation having relied on PPE use and acknowledging existing OSHA rules requiring employers to provide protective equipment for methylene chloride exposure.
- The ruling, one of the most significant appellate decisions interpreting TSCA since 2016, could influence other pending chemical rule challenges nationwide and underscores that OSHA-mandated workplace protective measures may play a larger role in future EPA risk evaluations
- The case was remanded to the EPA without a directed outcome, and affected employers should continue complying with existing OSHA requirements for methylene chloride while monitoring the agency’s next steps.
NIOSH Honors Submersible Robot for Eliminating Confined-Space Inspection Hazards
- Austin, Texas-based Square Robot received the 2026 NIOSH Prevention through Design Award for its SR-3 submersible inspection robot and Side Launcher deployment system, technology designed to eliminate the need for confined-space entry during above-ground storage tank inspections.
- The SR-3 allows operators to inspect tanks while they remain operating, without requiring shutdown, product removal or tank cleaning, while the Side Launcher deploys and retrieves the robot through a floating-roof tank’s shell manway, keeping personnel outside the confined space entirely.
- Amy Underwood, Square Robot’s vice president of hardware engineering, said the goal of the SR-3’s design was not to make confined space entry safer but to eliminate the need for it altogether.
- The SR-3 has been independently certified by FM Approvals for operation in Class I, Division 2 hazardous locations, and the Side Launcher is certified for Class I, Division 1 environments; Square Robot received the award Sept. 15 during the National Safety Council Safety Congress & Expo in Indianapolis.
Excavator Operator Pinned by Falling Debris During Demolition
- A construction worker survived an hours-long entrapment Sept. 17 at the former Harbor Station Power Plant demolition site in Bridgeport, Conn., after a massive piece of debris fell during demolition work.
- The debris pinned the worker inside an excavator cab.
- Bridgeport police and firefighters responded to the site at 1 Atlantic St. following reports of a person trapped in the excavator.
- Emergency crews successfully extricated the worker, who was transported to a local hospital alert and conscious.